KSPN and its team: Station manager Bob Koontz, program director Larry Gifford, and on-air hosts Steve Mason, Dave Dameshek, Rick Banks, Pete Fox and Brian Long.

==A bit of a Q-and-A with new KSPN drive-time host Dave Dameshek, a former writer for ABC's "The Jimmy Kimmel Show," a former contributor to the Adam Carolla Show on 97.1-FM, a writer for FSN's "Sports Geniuses," Comedy Central's "Battlebots," "The Man Show" and "Crankyankers" and most recently hosting his own show to his home town of Pittsburgh station via an ISB line from Los Angeles:

Q: What’s going to make the new lineup at 710 be better, different or more cutting edge than what's going on at rival 570?

DD: First, people have this perception nationally that L.A. is a weak sports town. Aside from all the compelling storylines that are happening now, it happens to be a great sports town with all the Lakers and Dodgers and Halo fans ranking among the most passionate of people I've seen. I get a sense people die hard out there. But at the same time, its a transient city where people like me are watching football every Sunday with 20 guys who have 20 different rooting interests. As far as that goes, we want to service the local sports fan as much as possible, but recognize we're in Hollywood and people are here for the entertainment business. With my background and connections I have in comedy writing, I want to blend the sports scene with the Hollywood types and find a new vibe.

Q: Does this mean no more writing for the Kimmel show?

DD: I'm thankful I'm not on that picket line. I'd love to do both, but this (radio show) will be a full-time gig for me, not just talking three hours and leaving.

Q: And what about being put in the clean-up spot of afternoon drive time -- any hesitancy about going right into that slot:
DD: I suppose, but maybe I'm too dumb to know any better. I've been fortunate in a lot of ways in my career. I used to go back and forth between SportsCenter on TV and watching VCR tapes of Letterman and "Cheers" to get luck enough to work on shows with Kimmel. It's been a great training ground. The best training I've had for this show was a few months ago when I was doing a live shot to Pittsburgh from L.A. flying blind three hours a night with a board op instant messaging me. That isolated feeling makes me think this will be a cakewalk after doing that.
I'm humbled by this opportunity and maybe I'm thinking the same thing you are: Gifford and Koontz made a very big mistake.

Q: How do you describe yourself and your approach for those who have no idea where you're coming from?
DD: The main thing is I'm a huge sports fan first and a fan of comedy as well. This show will blend the two. Maybe I'm a bit of a wise acre, a wise cracker. I'm always happy to put it on other people. Some of the people back in Pittsburgh say I sound like the late Myron Cope, and there's no better compliment. I'm a big Howard Stern fan. Love to listen to Cowherd in the mornings. And long ago, I loved listening to Carolla on "Love Line."

Q: How did you sell your self to the station to take you as the new drive-time host:
DD: I had a few meetings with them and they asked if I'd be willing to do a two-man show. And I came back with my idea of adding a house band and doing other things. I brought up the notion that sports radio doesn't have to be so self-serious. I think ultimately sports is about entertainment and having fun, not listening to a two-man debate about who's better, Brady or Manning. These arguments get so contrived, conflict for the sake of entertainment. That doesn't appeal to me as much. I'm at th etop of a mountain trying to improve a sports scene. It's not about where I've been or where we've been, it's about pushing foward together with L.A. fans and making it a better place while we're having fun at the same time.

==What smoked and choked this week?
It didn't make it onto the website. Here it is:

WHAT SMOKES

There was a unfiltered, natural beauty in watching FSN West’s “Rinkside View” of Tuesday’s Kings-Ducks contest, an alternate feed from the normal coverage of the game on FSN Prime Ticket that tried to make the experience as close as possible as being at the game. By using a half-dozen hand-held cameras down near the boards, few commercials, no play-by-play call and enhanced audio, the experiment tried before on Dodgers and Lakers telecasts may have fit best with hockey. If there was a novelty element to it, you’d think it would wear off eventually. But it didn’t, especially as the game went into overtime and a shootout. This stripped-down format, which Ducks ownership underwrote for FSN, will never replace the traditional coverage we’ve become used to. But the camerawork demonstrating the benefits of watching hockey as close as possible to the ice and seeing plays develop from the remote shots over each goalie were brilliant. A play-by-play man and analyst, of course, do come in handy. They could have pointed out that Kings goalie Jason LaBarbara had his stick knocked away just moments before the Ducks scored point blank on him for their third goal in the second period – it wasn’t that obvious to viewers as it happened. Only if you had TiVo could you figure it out. In all, the experience was like taking a museum tour and deciding not to pay for the self-guided headphones – if you knew what you were watching, you’d be OK, but you’d likely miss some nuances that an expert could have pointed out.

WHAT CHOKES

The first instinct is to ignore the revival of the Playboy.com “America’s Sexiest Sportscater” online poll, seven years after it did one the first time. But we’re more bothered that these kind of things continue to perpetuate on the Internet – with this generating more publicity because of the marketing machine behind it. We’re not past this exercise in embarrassment yet? “With so many beautiful, talented reporters out there furthering our passion for sports, we decided it was time for a new poll,” says the story next to photos of 12 candidates: ESPN reporters Erin Andrews, Colleen Dominguez, Rachel Nichols, Lisa Salters; The NFL Network and NBC’s Alex Flanagan, NBC “Poker After Dark” host Shana Hiatt, ESPN NASCAR pit reporter Jamie Little, New England Sports Network studio host Hazel Mae, Fox Sports Net’s Lindsay Soto, ESPNEWS anchor Sage Steele, Fox/Speed Channel reporter Krista Voda and Fox’s Jeanne Zelasko. “So browse these sexy sideline sirens, cast your vote and see which one hits pay dirt as America's Sexiest Sportscaster,” the site says, noting winners will be announced Nov. 28. For what it’s worth, Playboy does not repeat any of the 12 candidates it had from its first poll: Angie Arlati, Jill Arrington (the winner), Jillian Barberie, Bonnie Bernstein, Lisa Guerrero, Inga Hammond, Pam Oliver, Summer Sanders, Melissa Stark and. Hannah Storm. Please take note how many of them aren’t working in the sportscasting business any longer (as if Barberie was a sportscaster at all) when you decide what the network shelf life is of a “sexy sideline siren.”

==Your football viewing for the weekend:
The NFL:
Sunday:
10 a.m.: San Diego at Jacksonville with Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf on Channel 2 (force fed to L.A. as opposed to Cleveland-Baltimore, Kansas City-Indianapolis, Oakland-Minnesota and Miami-Philadelphia on CBS)
10 a.m.: Carolina at Green Bay with Dick Stockton and Brian Baldinger on Channel 11 (up against New York Giants-Detroit, Arizona-Cincinnati, Tampa Bay-Atlanta and New Orleans-Houston on Fox)
1 p.m.: Washington at Dallas with Joe Buck, Troy Aikman and Pam Oliver on Channel 11 (up against Pittsburgh-N.Y. Jets with Jim Nantz and Phil Simms on CBS and Chicago-Seattle and St. Louis-San Francisco on Fox)
5:15 p.m.: New England at Buffalo with Al Michaels and John Madden on Channel 4
Monday:
5:30 p.m.: Tennessee at Denver with Mike Tirico, Tony Kornheiser and Ron Jaworski on ESPN

By the way: Drew Carey, in the booth with the ESPN "Monday Night Football" crew last week in Seattle, was asked by Kornheiser if it's been tough replacing a legend such as Bob Barker on "The Price Is Right." Said Carey: "I know, it’s amazing, isn’t it? ... He’s a legend. You can’t replace him. You can only come in line after him. Kind of like you coming on after Dennis Miller.”

College football, with BCS rankings (Both USC and UCLA are off)
Tonight:
5 p.m.: No. 16 Hawaii at Nevada with Sean McDonough and Chris Spielman, ESPN2

Saturday:
7 a.m.: ESPN GameDay is at Michigan for the Wolverines' annual matchup against Ohio State, meaning former Buckeyes QB Kirk Herbstreit has only to walk from the set (which will be inside the stadium for the second hour) to the press box ... at a brisk pace. Disturbingly, one of the features on this episode will include ESPN.com reporter Greg Garber receiving a Mohawk haircut as part of a story about the trend for the hairstyle among college football players.

9 a.m.: No. 7 Ohio State at No. 21 Michigan with Brent Musburger with Kirk Herbstreit, Channel 7
9 a.m.: Northwestern at No. 19 Illinois with Dave Pasch, Andre Ware and Erin Andrews, ESPN
9 a.m.: Syracuse at No. 24 Connecticut with Pam Ward and Ray Bentley, ESPN2
9 a.m.: Tulsa at Army with Eric Collins and Jim Hofher, ESPN Classic
9:30 a.m.: No. 5 Missouri at Kansas State with Joel Meyers and Dave Lapham, FSN West
11:30 a.m.: Duke at Notre Dame with Tom Hammond, Pat Haden and Alex Flanagan, Channel 4
12:30 p.m.: No. 1 LSU at Misississippi with Verne Lundquist and, and Gary Danielson, Channel 2
12:30 p.m.: Cal at Washington with dan Fouts and Tim Brant, Channel 7
12:30 p.m.: Penn State at Michigan State with Terry Gannon, David Norrie and Jeannine Edwards, ESPN (leaving Iowa State at No. 3 Kansas with Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham, and Miami at Virginia Tech with Bob Wischusen and Bill Curry as the pay-per-view options in this window)
12:30 p.m.: Purdue at Indiana with Thom Brennaman, Charles Davis and Charissa Thompson, Big Ten Network (with Wisconsin at Minnesota and Western Michigan at Iowa also in this Big Ten Network window).
12:30 p.m.: Northern Illinois at Navy with Pete Medhurst and Scott Zolak, CSTV
1:30 p.m.: North Carolina State at Wake Forest with Doug Bell and Charles Arbuckle, ESPNU
4:30 p.m.: Southern Miss at UTEP with Tom Hart and Trev Alberts, CSTV
4:45 p.m.: No. 6 West Virginia at Cincinnati with Mike Patrick, Todd Blackledge and Holly Rowe, SPN
4:45 p.m.: No. 17 Boston College at Clemson with Mark Jones, Bob Davie and Stacey Dales, ESPN2
5 p.m.: Texas Tech at No. 4 Oklahoma with Brad Nessler, Bob Griese, Paul Maguire and Bonnie Bernstein, Channel 7
5 p.m.: Louisville at South Florida with Dave Armstrong and Mike Gottfried, ESPNU

==The Onion Sports headline of the week:

==The first of some 87 college basketball games that FSN West and FSN Prime Ticket will deliver -- most from the Pac-10, Big West (Cal State Northridge) and Pepperdine -- is Arizona hosting Virginia at 7:30 p.m. Saturday (FSNW), using Ted Robinson and Marques Johnson. On UCLA games that aren't part of the conference package that'll be done by either Robinson-Johnson or Barry Tompkins and Dan Belluomini, Bill Macdonald will do play-by-play with Don MacLean as the analyst. Jim Watson does play-by-play on six USC games with former Stanford coach Mike Montgomery as his analyst. Paul Sunderland does play-by-play on Big West and Pepperdine games with either Montgomery or former Clipper Michael Cage as the analyst. Cal State Northridge has two appearances in this lineup: Dec. 22 at Washington (3 p.m., FSN Prime) and hosting Long Beach State on Jan. 26 (4 p.m., FSN Prime).

==In her latest column as the ESPN ombudsman, Le Anne Schreiber called the network's coverage of Joe Torre's departure from the Yankees to his hiring by the Dodgers as "surreal." In that two-week period from Oct. 18 (when he left New York) to Nov. 1 (when the Dodgers took him), ESPN had, according to Schreiber's count, five specials that took 6 1/2 hours of air time. "On one managerial change," she asked, without the question mark. Hundreds of viewers “complained about the (coverage), which began before the specials, and extended beyond ESPN to ESPN.com," she said.

==ESPN has lured Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn from their dead-end newspaper reporting jobs to enhance their income working for its “Enterprise Unit” and help fight performance-enhancing drug crime in the sports world. Fainaru-Wada worked with Lance Williams at the San Francisco Chronicle to break open the BALCO case with leaked testimony, leading to the book on Barry Bonds “Game of Shadows.” Quinn was part of the New York Daily News’ investigative team that broke steroid-related stories, including the investigation of the Signature Pharmacy in Albany, N.Y.

==Dave O'Brien has the call for Sunday's MLS Cup on ABC. Need to know anything more about it?

==They're throwing a parade for Kings TV broadcasters Bob Miller and Jim Fox. Almost. They'll be part of the new Hollywood Santa Parade on Sunday, Nov. 25. It'll only be televised on LA CityView Channel 35.

==For the Week 12 of the NFL schedule, NBC is sticking with its Philadelphia at New England game, opting out of any flex ability to take something else from CBS or Fox. In response, Fox moved the Denver-Chicago game that day from 10 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. kickoff PDT. The first flex-induced game is Sunday's NBC coverage of New England at Buffalo (5:15 p.m.).

==Dan Patrick's parentental unit, The Content Factor in Chicago, says his syndicated radio show has become "the fastest growing program in syndicated radio history," available not only on KLAC-AM (570) from 6-to-9 a.m. but also Chicago, Washington D.C., Houston, Dallas, San Francisco, Atlanta, Philadelphia and San Diego. No New York? Give it time. Best place for us to listen, since we're not up that early, is on the DanPatrick.com website.

==ESPNU introduced Karch Kiraly as a volleyball analyst with its coverage last Sunday of the Louisville-Notre Dame women's match. Kiraly, a former star at UCLA and three-time Olympic gold medalist who then became a beach volleyball legend, has been working with Chris Marlowe on NBC's beach coverage the last few years, including the most recent Olympic games. ESPN plans for Kiraly to join the network for its coverage of the 2007 NCAA women's volleyball championships from Dec. 8-15.
Kiraly joins Paul Sunderland and Steve Obradovich in the call for FSN Prime Ticket's coverage of the CIF Southern Section girls Division I volleyball championship between Redondo and Mira Costa on Saturday at 10 p.m. (delayed, after the Ducks-Star game).

==XM Satellite Radio has given NHL commissioner Gary Bettman his own weekly show called "NHL Hour" starting Tuesday. Other league execs, including deputy commissioner Bill Daly and director of hockey operations Colin Campbell, will rotate in with co-host Bill Clement from 1 to 2 p.m. on Channel 204. Starting Dec. 6, the show will move to Thursdays in the same time slot.
XM has also given Arizona Diamondbacks Eric Byrnes a weekly, three-hour show, starting Saturday at 9 a.m on Channel 175. It'll air each week up until spring training. The former UCLA standout and frequent Fox Sports baseball post-season analyst is the first active MLB player to be given his own show.

==Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas and his "Agent Zero" internet home won the 2007 Weblog Award for the best celebrity blog, receiving 9,468 votes, edging out Wil Wheaton and finishing far ahead of Boston pitcher Curt Schilling and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. KissingSuzyKolber.com was awarded best sports blog, ahead of Deadspin.com.

==The Tennis Channel has procured exclusive rights to a series of exhibition matches between current No. 1 Roger Federer and former No. 1 Pete Sampras that start next week. The three-match tour goes to Seoul (Tuesday, 4 p.m.), Malaysia (Thursday, Thanksgiving Day at 4 a.m. live) and Macau, China (Nov. 23, 10 p.m. live). In 2001, Federer won the only meeting between the two in the fourth round of Wimbledon, a fiercely contested battle that ended Sampras’ 31-match tournament win streak, 7-6, 5-7, 6-4, 6-7, 7-5. It was the first time in Sampras’ Wimbledon career that the seven-time champion lost a fifth set.
Following the broadcast, Tennis Channel will make each match available via free broadband replay on its Web site, www.TennisChannel.com. The first match (Tuesday) will appear online Dec. 5. The second (Thanksgiving Day) will make its Web debut Dec. 6, and the third match (Friday) will be on the site Dec. 7.

==And finally:
In response to our inquiry about whether Jeanne Zelasko had seen herself included in the latest Playboy.com "America's Sexiest Sportscaster" poll, the Fox Sports baseball studio host and wife of KABC Channel 7 sportscaster Curt Sandoval sent this email:
"I found your email after I changed my second diaper of the morning ... cleaned up the spilled chocolate milk and the yogurt that was all over my table and my pjs ... pulled the hair clips out of my hair that my 2-year-old put in to give me a new look ... that just wasn't working for me or probably David Hill. Me sexy?? I'm flattered. Honestly, as a relatively new Mom, I find all Mommies sexy! This is a tough gig!
"Let's be real ... the only chance of a Sandoval showing off his/her birthday suit would be my 2-year-old running away in all her glory after bathtime! I think you know I've built my career on hard work and dedication and not a boob job. (Although two pregnancies gave me a lift for a while ... if you know what I mean).
"I take my opportunity as a female broadcaster seriously. I want my daughter to look up to me and define success by the aforementioned hard work and dedication. All that being said, if a sexy Daddy can win People magazine, why can't a sexy Momma win Playboy!
"Here's to all the sexy soccer Mom's ... now I gotta go get that 3rd diaper!!!"

Deadspin.com contributor A.J. Daulerio listed the odds on candidates in his "Cultural Oddsmaker" entry this week and has Zelasko at 3-1.
"She's probably the favorite, if Playboy's Viagra-chugging demographic were to actually take the time to finally figure out how to turn on their little-used computer. Zelasko's got that whole Kathy Lee Crosby thing rockin', and plenty of older, white World Series viewers probably took one look at here and thought, "Now, there's a lady whose stockings probably smell good." Plus, she doesn't seem terrified of Kevin Kennedy, who resembles most of Playboy readers."

Post script: As we pointed out, very few of the original 10 candidates for the first Playboy.com sexiest sportscaster poll are still in the business seven years later, proving the shelf life isn't that great if all you've got is a pretty face. To that point, consider this line from a Tuesday “forum” segment of “Jim Rome Is Burning” on ESPN, when TV/radio host (at least that's what the graphic says) Roger Lodge (not his real name) answered Rome’s question as to whether the Indianapolis Colts are in trouble after losing two games in a row: “Jim, I can’t believe how many people ... I’m driving here today listening to the (sports-talk) radio and people are asking, ‘Are the Colts officially in decline?’ Well, somewhere out there in oblivion, (even) Lisa Guerrero thinks that’s a silly question.”